Lower crankset for Giro 20.

I just noticed that the stock crankset of the Giro 20 cost $89. That
seems extremely low end for a $1500 bike. Damn.

Quoted message said:

I just ordered a Giro 20. I have a few weeks before it gets here, they
ran out of 2006s. One concern I have is the crankset. It comes with a
52-42-30 crankset. I want to be able to climb hills and I don't mind
sacrificing top end. Shimano has a 26-36-48 crankset. It's an LX M581
and it cost about $170 online. It seems like a good compromise between
road and mountain. Any thoughts on this?

Try coasting downhill on a recumbent without a front fairing, then
pedal backwards. You should notice the additional drag of your legs
rotating slowing you down. Pedaling above about 55 to 65 kph (~35-40
mph) is counter-productive.

On the other hand, climbing in too high of a gear will rapidly tire the
leg muscles and may overstress your joints. Better to be geared too low
than too high. Most recumbent bicycles come over-geared in their stock
configuration, unless the prospective rider is very strong.

A good LBS will swap cranks (or other standard parts) at the time of
purchase for the price differential between the OEM and replacement
items.

--
Tom Sherman - Here, not there.
I am supporting cannibalism by eating more nuts.

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:

Try coasting downhill on a recumbent without a front fairing, then
pedal backwards. You should notice the additional drag of your legs
rotating slowing you down. Pedaling above about 55 to 65 kph (~35-40
mph) is counter-productive.

On the other hand, climbing in too high of a gear will rapidly tire the
leg muscles and may overstress your joints. Better to be geared too low
than too high. Most recumbent bicycles come over-geared in their stock
configuration, unless the prospective rider is very strong.

The Giro's lowest gear ratio is 30-34. I was thinking about getting a
crank with a 26 to make the ratio 26-34. What is your lowest gear ratio
on your bike?

Quoted message said:

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:

Try coasting downhill on a recumbent without a front fairing, then
pedal backwards. You should notice the additional drag of your legs
rotating slowing you down. Pedaling above about 55 to 65 kph (~35-40
mph) is counter-productive.

On the other hand, climbing in too high of a gear will rapidly tire the
leg muscles and may overstress your joints. Better to be geared too low
than too high. Most recumbent bicycles come over-geared in their stock
configuration, unless the prospective rider is very strong.

The Giro's lowest gear ratio is 30-34. I was thinking about getting a
crank with a 26 to make the ratio 26-34. What is your lowest gear ratio
on your bike?

22T chainring, 20T/13T jackshaft, 34T large cog, with a 44-406 tire on
the drive wheel. 😉

High gear is the same except for a 44T chainring and an 11T small cog.

To save you the math, this is a range of 1.55 to 9.58 meters of
development (or 19 to 120 gear inches).

--
Tom Sherman - Here, not there.

Quoted message said:

I just ordered a Giro 20. I have a few weeks before it gets here, they
ran out of 2006s. One concern I have is the crankset. It comes with a
52-42-30 crankset. I want to be able to climb hills and I don't mind
sacrificing top end. Shimano has a 26-36-48 crankset. It's an LX M581
and it cost about $170 online. It seems like a good compromise between
road and mountain. Any thoughts on this?

My Burley Django came with 52-42-30. For a recent self supported tour,
that had quite a bit of climbing, I swapped out the 30 for a 26. While
I never had a serious problem climbing hills with the 30, hills are just
so much nicer now with the 26. Go for the smaller chainrings. I still
like the 42 chainring, but I'm going to be reducing the large chainring
from a 52 to a 48.

See if you can get the shop where you are buying the Giro to exchange a
48-36-26 crank for the one that comes standard with the Giro. You may
need to pay a bit additional for it, but it should be cheaper than
purchasing it separately from another source. If the shop won't go for
that see what they would charge to install smaller chainrings.

---
John Knez

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just ordered a Giro 20. I have a few weeks before it gets here, they
ran out of 2006s. One concern I have is the crankset. It comes with a
52-42-30 crankset. I want to be able to climb hills and I don't mind
sacrificing top end. Shimano has a 26-36-48 crankset. It's an LX M581
and it cost about $170 online. It seems like a good compromise between
road and mountain. Any thoughts on this?

Hello CR -
I'm back from vacation in Sonoma. Beautiful place, many wineries, many
bicycles.

Glad to hear you ordered a recumbent.

$170 is too much money to spend for a Giro crankset - in my opinion that is.

A 30 tooth small chainring is too big for recumbent riders unless you live
and ride without hills. Your options include living with the stock chainset
until you figure out what you like, replacing the small chainring with
something smaller, or replacing the crankset from the start.

If you live in a hilly area, forget about #1. You need lower gears,
especially as a new recumbent rider. There is no need to struggle up hills.

Most cost effective in the short run is swapping out the 30 for a 22 or 24.
I ran 5-6,000 miles on the VRex with a 22-42-52 crank set (it was a Shimano
105 model) and a Shimano 105 front derailer. The 105 derailer worked fine
with a 30 tooth difference. Just make sure there is frame clearance on the
Giro 20 for a smaller chainring. Downside to this is a big jump from the
small chainring to the middle ring - means a double shift to larger cogs in
the back..

Better option is to lower all the gearing with a new crankset. This also
gives you the option of installing shorter crankarms. Some folks -
including me - believe there is less knee stress with shorter cranks -
forces you to spin rather than mash. You will not run out of top end gears
unless you really spin downhills. I put about 4500 miles on a 170 mm
Shimano XT 22-32-44 crank. Works great, wider Q identical to mtn biking.
With a 34 tooth cassette you will always have a low enough gear (down to
about 17 inches). Last night I replaced the XT crankset with a 165 mm
Sugino XD Pro ($90 from yellow jersey.org) 24-36-48 crank. You'll need a
new square taper bottom bracket approx $25 too. I like to tinker and I
prefer the lower Q (low 160's). Bike shops look down their noses at Sugino
cranks because they use old school tapers rather than the latest proprietary
stuff.

As with recumbents - it doesn't matter which you choose as long as you like
what you get.

Jon Shinefeld
PhillyPA

Jon S. said:

Better option is to lower all the gearing with a new crankset. This also
gives you the option of installing shorter crankarms. Some folks -
including me - believe there is less knee stress with shorter cranks -
forces you to spin rather than mash. You will not run out of top end gears
unless you really spin downhills. I put about 4500 miles on a 170 mm
Shimano XT 22-32-44 crank. Works great, wider Q identical to mtn biking.
With a 34 tooth cassette you will always have a low enough gear (down to
about 17 inches). Last night I replaced the XT crankset with a 165 mm
Sugino XD Pro ($90 from yellow jersey.org) 24-36-48 crank. You'll need a
new square taper bottom bracket approx $25 too. I like to tinker and I
prefer the lower Q (low 160's). Bike shops look down their noses at Sugino
cranks because they use old school tapers rather than the latest proprietary
stuff.

That was my other option, going with a mtn bike crankset. I'm also
intested in this because my knees have been feeling sore lately, I
think my runner's knee is flaring up again.

Question. My cassette is a 11-34. With a 22-32-44 my low gear would be
22-34. Is it possible to go this slow on a recumbent?

Quoted message said:

Question. My cassette is a 11-34. With a 22-32-44 my low gear would be
22-34. Is it possible to go this slow on a recumbent?

I don't know about the 22-34 combo, but I have an 11-32 cassette with a 22
chain ring and have used it often when climbing steep grades (15% or so).
This is with a Vision R45 USS, which has a shorter wheelbase than Giro, so I
don't know how much of a difference the longer wheelbase will make with
balancing at slow speeds.

~ Nanc
1999 Vision R44 USS
2003 Vision R45 USS
Louisiana

Nanc said:

Quoted message said:

Question. My cassette is a 11-34. With a 22-32-44 my low gear would be
22-34. Is it possible to go this slow on a recumbent?

I don't know about the 22-34 combo, but I have an 11-32 cassette with a 22
chain ring and have used it often when climbing steep grades (15% or so).
This is with a Vision R45 USS, which has a shorter wheelbase than Giro, so I
don't know how much of a difference the longer wheelbase will make with
balancing at slow speeds.

Quoted message said:

From what I've heard, longer wheelbases are supposed to be more stable.

I'm about sold on getting a 22-32-44 right from the beginning.

Quoted message said:

Question. My cassette is a 11-34. With a 22-32-44 my low gear would be
22-34. Is it possible to go this slow on a recumbent?

I use a 20 tooth up front, 34 in back and a 26" wheel on my Tour Easy
and have no problem going 2.5mph. With a 22 up front I would probably
be able to go down to 3 mph with no problems. However, it did take a
while to learn to ride at that speed. Once fully loaded with about
70#'s of gear I decided to see if walking was easier. Found out riding
the bike was much, much easier than walking. On my next mountain tour I
will be putting on a 18 tooth so I can spin a little faster.

Enjoy,

Perry B